SRINAGAR: Police in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday disclosed that the conspiracy to kill Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari was hatched in Pakistan and identified all the three attackers involved in his assassination.
“The conspiracy to kill Shujaat was hatched in Pakistan and executed by three Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in Kashmir. We have got tangible evidence to establish that the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir S P Pani said while addressing a Press conference here.
He said the plot was hatched by LeT operative Sajad Gul, who was a resident of Srinagar till he fled to Pakistan on a fraudulent passport in May 2017.
Sajad, he said, used to post malicious and hate articles on social media.
“There were a series of social media campaigns and online platforms were used for those malicious and hate campaigns. These campaigns were very intimidating. Five to six posts came and they are on public domain. The intimidating content was published against Shujaat on social media like kashmirfight.wordpress.com, Facebook account ‘Kadwa Sach Kashmir and twitter handle ‘Ahmed Khalid’,” the IGP said. He said during the investigation, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police that was probing the case found that all the hate and malicious content was posted by Sajad Gul on social media from Pakistan.
Shujaat along with two of his security guards was shot dead by three unidentified gunmen in a vehicle outside his office at Press Enclave, Srinagar on June 14.
The IGP said after the plan to kill Shujaat was hatched, the task to eliminate him was given to three LeT terrorists in the Valley. Pani identified the killers as Naveed Jhatt of Pakistan, Azad Ahmed Malik alias Dada alias Zaid of Bijbehara and Muzafar Ahmad alias Talha of Kulgam district.
Police released pictures of all the four accused in the crime and said a lookout notice is being issued for them.
The IGP said since Sajad Gul is living in Pakistan, Interpol would be approached to seek his custody.
Asked what was motive behind Shujaat’s killing, he said, “This will be revealed in the charge sheet”.
The IGP revealed that Junaid Qayoom, who was arrested after he ran away with a pistol and two mobile phones from the scene of crime, is being probed for his role in the case.
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